Global Networks of Expertise

1 School of Culture and Society - Department of Global Studies, School of Culture and Society, Arts, Aarhus University2 School of Culture and Society - Japan Studies, subject, School of Culture and Society, Arts, Aarhus University3 School of Culture and Society - Japan Studies, subject, School of Culture and Society, Arts, Aarhus University

Subtitle:

How a Bi-product of Technical Assistance Courses Financed by Japanese Foreign Aid Contributed to Globalization

Abstract:

Today more than half a million people from current and former developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe are alumni of technical assistance and training courses financed by Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA). In contrast to research on national ODA programs and experts dispatched from the countries supplying foreign aid, this article focuses on professionals and experts originating in developing countries. The main argument is that the overseas training programs financed partly or completely by Japanese ODA have provided experts from developing countries access to global networks of expertise through alumni network structures created in the 1960s. One significant and often overlooked outcome of technical assistance and overseas capacity development programs is the inclusion of experts from the south. The paper shows how the Japanese bilateral programs adapted the multilateral framework initiated in the 1950s to make networks of expertise global by enabling South-South and South-North connections.